Monday, May 18, 2009

SpyCam Story #529 - "What's up Doc?"

The story you are about to read is real. Names have been dropped to protect the people involved and the city being sued. Just coincidence? You decide. (Dum-da-dum-dum...)

Charges were dropped against a ["revered for his expertise" professional] accused of spying on his patients... he was was arrested and spent a night in jail, after a patient falsely accused him of putting a hidden camera in an office bathroom.

He says a security lightbulb was used to keep an eye on his children in the backyard of his home, but the bulb was in his office because it was broken and he was ordering a new one.

His attorney said a construction worker grabbed the security bulb off the desk, and it was his account that helped drop the charges.

"The contractor went on his own volition and explained to the district attorney's office that he accidently put the non working security device in the bathroom thinking it was a lightbulb. It's really that simple, but again no one wanted to listen..."

The [city police] said they responded to a legitimate complaint.

Prosecutors dismissed the case saying in court, they had interviewed several witnesses, one of whom "offered an innocent explanation to the placement of the surveillance light bulb in the office bathroom of the defendant."

They went on to say, "[He] did not commit the crime with which he was charged."

[He] is suing the city for $[x] million.

from another report...
[He] said he used the bulb as an outdoor monitoring system to watch his kids while they played outside at home if he got called inside. The surveillance system wasn't a secret, he said.

"Everybody who knows me knows it didn't happen because everybody knew that I bought this thing for the backyard of my house," he said. "The kids helped me set it up."

[His] father was very ill with Parkinson's disease, and the family was in the process of moving from [the suburbs] to [the city], he said.

He brought the bulb down to the city to order a new encoder box that transmits the signal to a monitor. The original box was misplaced when the family was packing to move, he said.

from another report...
"At 5 until 12 I get a call from my secretary saying this guy thinks you're watching him pee. He called 9-11. He called the cops," [he] explained.

One of [his] patients called police when he found a light bulb with a small hidden surveillance camera in the men's bathroom.

Turns out a contractor doing work at the office accidentally installed the light.

[He] took the bulb to work that day to get it fixed.

from another report...
He said he brought it to work because he needed the code number on the camera to order a new one.

A contractor working in the office at night as part of an office expansion project told investigators he could not find a bulb when the light blew out in the bathroom, so he screwed in the broken one he found on [his] desk.

The public is generally aware of only one "lightbulb camera;" code number SVS-1. Sold on ebay and from many Web sites. It does not light. Simply a camera in lightbulb clothing, it transmits video over power lines. A decoder box is required to receive the signal. What is your verdict? (Dum-da-dum-dum-daaa...)